


he pitches a good tent (if you know what I mean)

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Trapeze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-28 23:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3874531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh no you don’t,” Levi hissed, “you are not doing this when we’re about to perform.”</p><p>“Aw, c’mon,” Eren wheeled. “For good luck,” he teased, noses bumping.</p><p>“You’re going to ruin our make-up again,” Levi complained, but it was all hot air and Eren knew it. With a laugh he hoisted Levi up to his tip toes for a kiss, fingers digging into the other man’s sides to keep him up as Levi slung his arms around his neck to do the same.</p><p>“For good luck,” Levi muttered. Eren took the opportunity to lick his way into Levi’s mouth, half tempted to pick the other up off the ground completely so he could wrap his legs around Eren’s waist and give them both a better angle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	he pitches a good tent (if you know what I mean)

The big top was in full swing, as it always was during a show, and despite years of living and breathing the sawdust, chalk, and candy sweet scent of the air every day Eren still found himself ducking to peek between the flaps, eyes pinned on the spectacle in the middle ring. They were up soon, their act technically after this one, if you didn’t count the five minute clown act in between to distract the crowd from everyone rushing to get the nets and swings up and ready, and Eren didn’t really count those. He liked the clowns, Hitch and Marlo, just fine and they were great performers, but if he counted every time a clown snuck out a few laughs from the crowd as an act they would needed a third and forth page for their schedule.

“Should’ve known I’d find you here.”

Eren jolted at the voice, dragging his eyes away from the sight of Jean standing up upon one of the two horses’ backs, looking smug and annoying as ever in his sparkly coat and tights. Behind him was Levi, costumed up and ready to go, hairpins still in place from when Petra had done both of their make-up. Eren laughed and twisted around to pull them out, clipping them to the tent flap behind him without a care. Someone would find them later, he figured. They always did.

Levi snorted at the action before pressing forward, his bare arm pressing against Eren’s so that he could see what was going on. Eren reached out and curled the same arm around Levi, tugging the shorter man against his side completely as he ducked to kiss his temple where his freed hair was slowly falling down.

“Oh no you don’t,” Levi hissed, wriggling slightly in Eren’s grip. Not enough to break free, just enough to rub against Eren’s side, warm and tempting, all for show. “You are not doing this when we’re about to perform.”

“Aw, c’mon,” Eren wheeled, curling, Jean’s performance forgotten, to wrap his other arm around Levi and reel him in. He wasn’t resisting in the slightest, which made Eren smirk, ducking down until he could press their foreheads together gently. “For good luck,” he teased, noses bumping.

“You’re going to ruin our make-up again,” Levi complained, but it was all hot air and Eren knew it. He was just trying to cover his ass so that when Petra bitched he could blame Eren. But he didn’t care, Petra didn’t scare him (much), so with a laugh he hoisted Levi up to his tip toes for a kiss, fingers digging into the other man’s sides to keep him up as Levi slung his arms around his neck to do the same.

“For good luck,” Levi muttered. Eren took the opportunity to lick his way into Levi’s mouth, half tempted to pick the other up off the ground completely so he could wrap his legs around Eren’s waist and give them both a better angle. There had to be a barrel nearby, or maybe a box, something he could pick Levi up and drop him on so their height difference wasn’t so fucking drastic.

Half tempted turned into sliding his hands down Levi’s sides, feeling the skin stretched over muscles and ribs, strong and tempting in a familiar sort of way. He wanted to soak up that skin, to press it against his own, and he was so focused on the feeling that the sudden stretchy material of Levi’s own sparkly costume pants made his fingers twitch in surprise. Eren pressed his hands lower at the feeling of the pants, curling his fingers around Levi’s thighs and biting down on Levi’s lower lip. He grinned as the shorter man groaned, loud as his nails dug into the skin of Eren’s neck, his own body shuddering with the loud sound. Eren lifted Levi with ease, feeling the shift of the other’s muscles and the burn on his own muscles, a groan of his own bubbling up in his throat as Levi shifted to wrap his legs around Eren’s waist, one hand wandering up to grip at Eren’s hair. The kiss grew deeper, slower with the new angle, Levi biting down on Eren’s bottom lip this time before licking back into his mouth and swallowing the noise he made at the action.

Eren was slipping an arm under Levi’s ass to steady him when Levi leaned back, nearly throwing him off balance as he dragged their mouths apart. Eren tried to follow him, hauling him closer with a hand on his back, but Levi’s hands went from around his shoulders to against his jaw, pushing him back.

“You’re handsy,” Levi muttered, mouth quirking up to one side in the way it did when Eren kissed the sense out of him. “And we’re on in a minute. Drop me, you fucking menace.”

Eren leaned back, but he didn’t put Levi down. He could just see through the crack in the tent flaps that Jean was taking his bow and directing the lead horse to trot back behind the flaps. They were out of time; they needed to be making their own way to where everyone was rushing to raise the nets and ready the swings before someone noticed they were missing. He groaned again, leaning forward to press his forehead against Levi’s shoulder.

“I will never drop you,” he mumbled, knowing that wasn’t what the older trapeze artist meant at all. But he couldn’t help himself, because even the idea of Levi falling from his arms as a joke unsettled him. _Levi_ , the Wings of Freedom, the greatest trapeze artist Eren had ever known, the one who had taught him everything he knew…

“God, you’re such a dumbass,” Levi said. He was pushing at Eren’s head again and with a laugh of his own Eren was forced to put him down. Levi dragged him down for one last chaste kiss, muttering against his lips about how much of a pain it was, having such a handsy idiot get him all riled up before performance. Eren grinned at the accusation, but he couldn’t deny that the canvas over their heads wasn’t the only big tent in sight.

“Stop grinning,” Levi ordered, snorting as he shoved at Eren’s chest to get him moving. He ducked past him, calling out to Petra that they were coming, his back and its strong muscles on display as he walked away. What was also on display was his tattoo, two wings inked dark like his hair and spread out over his shoulders and arms, the feathers so lifelike Eren liked to imagine he could see them get ruffled sometimes. The tattoos were where Levi got his stage name and part of the reason why their costume was only pants, while the other acrobats outside their team had full leotards. Their pants had the same kind of wing design on it, or at least Eren and Levi’s did, while the other costumes only really matched them in color.

They were a squad, yes, but inside that they were a pair, performing the trickiest of stunts and the most dangerous daring acts. Mikasa worried about him so high in the air, even with the nets, but the truth was Eren and Levi hardly ever fell while doing their tricks, in practice or in front of the audiences who came to see them. Eren had worked hard to get to where he was at Levi’s side and his work paid off every time he caught the other man, his strong fingers curling around Levi’s forearms as they swung through the air, the dim sound of people gasping and cheering forgotten when Levi glanced up at him, eyes bright, and-

“Alright, there, air-head,” Auruo said, clasping his shoulder and jarring him forward a step and out of his thoughts. He almost tumbled out of the tent and into the show too early, catching himself just in time while the others snickered. “We’re not up in the clouds just yet, you know.”

Eren rolled his eyes and ducked Auruo’s next pat, twisting to put Petra between them and sliding up behind Levi as he did so. “Don’t bite your tongue again on the fall down,” Eren taunted, sticking his own out when the other man flushed pink and sputtered. Levi laughed quietly in front of him, shifting back to lean against Eren’s chest as Erwin started his spiel in the ring master’s spotlight about their performance.

“You ready for this,” Eren whispered, leaning forward until his lips kissed the shell of Levi’s ear as he spoke. Levi shuttered, digging his elbow back into Eren’s side, but Eren could see him smile crookedly anyway.

“Sure,” Levi said, shrugging easily. “It’s no big deal right? All I’ve got to do is fly through the air with the greatest of ease and all that shit.”

Eren shivered at the familiar words, the same ones he had said to Levi before their first performance together, when the other man had asked him if he was ready. He ducked further forward, pressing a kiss to Levi’s cheek despite the stage make-up he had on, arms squeezing around his waist as emotions flooded his chest.

“And I’ll catch you,” Eren promised quietly. “I’ll always catch you.”

Levi tipped his head back, craning to look at Eren without turning around. Neither minded that everyone else was lingering nearby, within earshot. They had lived through this little routine of sorts numerous times and they would live through it numerous more in the future. It settled them both, the repetition, the assurance, the weight of the words on their tongue as steady as the grip they had on each other in the air.

“You’ll catch me,” Levi echoed, reaching up to slide his hand in Eren’s hair and tug him down for a kiss. The cheering rose in a roar and one of the stage hands signaled that they needed to move, but as everyone trotted out the opening Levi and Eren lingered, just for a second. Their lips curved into twin smiles against each other before they pushed apart to go and out do what they loved, together, with the person they loved and the group who had become their family.

**Author's Note:**

> it just occurred to me i could have called this "big tent fun times" and maybe it's that late but maybe that is as hilarious as i think it is? idk. i'm so far gone for circus aus tho, especially when my faves are trapeze artists, b/c that was my dream as a kid. that would have been the thing i did until i died. if i could do it all over again, man, but i was fucked up when i got the chance for that shit and now it's past. so i write. not a bad trade off, tbh.
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoyed this!


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